Hotels across Dubai are gearing up for another busy summer as figures suggest that visitor numbers are going to be even higher than last year.

Figures from Euromonitor International suggest that a total of 9.04 million people will visit the emirates this year, up around 500,000 from 2008.

Last year, Britons made up the largest contingent of overseas visitors to Dubai, followed by Saudi Arabian and Russian travellers, who also arrived in droves as the summer got underway.

Speaking to Emirates Business, Nasser Fawzi, director of sales and marketing at Kempinski Hotel Mall of the Emirates, said that competition among hoteliers is likely to be even stronger this year.

"We're working on continuing to be number one [in the area] but it's hard as there are more hotels than this time last year," said Mr Fawzi.

Visitor numbers are likely to increase considerably in the coming weeks after Dubai Summer Surprises got officially underway yesterday (June 11th), ushering in more than two months of retail discounts and special offers.